Outcasted Love
by PunkRockr
Summary: Gaara meets Sakura, the spunky new girl. He finds her different and soon finds himself falling for her slowly, but he isn't the only one. The world begins to work against them, but can they overcome the world?
1. The Beginning

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists! I wasn't sure how to rate this story, so it would be really helpful if someone told me whether  
I should change the rating or keep it the same! **

* * *

The sun was rising over the town of Konoha as a blinding ray of sunshine slipped through the crack of the blinds. A gurgling noise came from under the midnight black bed sheets. Suddenly, the covers were thrown off the bed and a red headed teen sat up, stretched, and slowly got out of bed. He seamlessly glided over to the bathroom, and, seconds later emerged in his school clothes. Said boy was dressed in a black short-sleeved shirt that clung to his body, showing his moderately toned body, black straight-legged jeans with several elaborately placed holes, and had black and red converse on. He went over to the mirror to look over his appearance, and he began to inspect his looks. Even though he was on "Fire High's Top 10 Hottest Guys" list, he couldn't understand how that had ever happened. True, he had a nice masculine facial structure and body, he was pretty much an asshole to almost everyone except his close friends and he wore a huge amount of charcoal black eyeliner around his eyes. But, I guess being an asshole turns into being a bad boy easily. He didn't mean to be so prude to everyone, it's just most people were annoying to him and he had huge trust issues for many reasons that he never would discuss.

"GAARA! Hurry up or we're gunna be late!" He heard his sister, Temari shriek. As soon as he heard that, he rolled his eyes, muttered whatever, and snatched his black backpack off the wood floor. He quickly went down the staircase just as he saw his sister and his brother fighting about some stupid anime series they watched.

"Ninjas aren't real you dumbshit!" Temari said while giving him major attitude. Temari was older than Gaara by two years, which made her 18, and definitely had a temper problem. She was in her last year of high school and couldn't wait to set of some major problems before she graduated. Today, she was dressed in her favorite off the shoulder, long sleeved lilac shirt, red skinny jeans, black high top converse, and had her fishnet fingerless gloves on. As usual, her dirty blonde hair was in her usual four-ponytail style and her dark green eyes were accentuated with black mascara and lilac eye shadow.

"Psh, they totally are, but you're pea sized brain can't comprehend that." Kankuro retorted while crossing his arms with an air of arrogance. Kankuro was older than Gaara by one year, 17, and was just as childish as Naruto. He was a junior, but that didn't matter to him and loved to pull pranks on the teachers with his other friends, it was a miracle he didn't get expelled from the school. Today, he was wearing a white shirt with his black hoodie on top, purple straight-legged jeans, black and purple checkered vans, and had his usual eccentric purple war paint on his face. Always said it showed his cool side since it had all kinds of angles to it. His brown shaggy hair was slightly in his dark green eyes. Gaara sensed they were about to get into a fight, so he cleared his throat and glared at them with his forest green eyes. Suddenly, they stopped arguing as Gaara began walking out the door, they trailed after him like lost puppies as he began to get in his sister's car.

"Alright, Kankuro, you know the routine?" Temari glanced to her right.

"Yup, got them all right here." He said grinned as he gingerly patted his backpack. Every morning, Kankuro and Temari had to distract Gaara's fangirls by doing cruel things to them, and today's weapon of choice was stink bombs. While they were distracted, Gaara would run around them and get into his classroom as fast as possible. Unfortunately, for the Sabaku Sibling's, today was no different. Even through the glass they could hear the shrieks and yells of fangirls wanting Gaara to be with them and no one else.

"Ready?" Gaara smirked as Kankuro and Temari nodded in a mischievous manor.

"Alright, one, two, three! CHARGE!" Kankuro and Temari jumped out of the car and began to throw the stink bombs at the unsuspecting fangirls, as this was happening Gaara quickly go tout of the car and ran past the now crying girls. Gaara was on the track team, so running to the classroom was an easy feat. After a few minutes, he reached the classroom without breaking a sweat.

"Yo, Gaara!" A spikey haired brunette called out while waving his hand back and forth. He had on a huge fur lined grey hoodie, black skinny jeans, converse with a huge paw print on each shoe, and his usual red triangles on his cheeks. Kiba was the definition of animal lover. In the past 6 years of his life, currently 16, Kiba's had 7 dogs, 3 birds, 8 fish, and 0 cats. He absolutely could not stand cats.

"Hey." Gaara monotonously said as he strode towards his group of friends. True, they were a small group, but they could be trusted with anything. Gaara felt more comfortable with these people because they all had one thing in common, they were outcasts in their own unique ways. Kiba Inuzuka was obnoxiously loud and had an animal complex, Hinata Hyuuga was abnormally shy and always fainted whenever around Naruto Uzumaki, Rock Lee always wore green and had huge "caterpillar" eyebrows, Karin has larger rage issues than Temari, and Shino is always quiet, always wears sunglasses and a beige trench coat, and he collects both alive and dead bugs.

"Ah, my youthful friend, did your tremendous youth help you escape your fans today?" Lee questioned.

"I doubt it, he probably had his siblings take care of those dumb bitches. If I were you, I would just shoot them all!" Karin said as she swept her unmanageable fire engine red hair over her shoulder and pushed up her brown glasses.

"W-w-well…at least he got here in o-one piece." Hinata tried to put a light spin on things.

"At least Hinata stands up for me." Gaara smirked as he sat down at his lab desk.

"She's only pitying you! Hinata totally wishes you came here without a leg." Kiba jokingly nudged Gaara.

"Shut up, it's too early in the morning for all of your yapping, Chihuahua." Gaara countered with a smirk.

"Why you little!" Kiba tried to lunge for Gaara, but the teacher came in.

"Inuzuka, what are you doing?" The white haired man asked nonchalantly, as if he didn't care what was happening. Kiba immediately stopped in mid-air and face planted to the ground.

"That's what I thought." Jiraiya mockingly said. "Everyone sit down and shut up!" Everyone immediately sat with their lab groups. "Good, now we have a new student all the way from Sand High. Sakura, you can come in now, no one will touch you." Jiraiya yelled while his eyes glazed over, obviously thinking of new ideas for his "romance" (AKA porn) book.

Gaara already knew what this girl would be like, quiet, yet hot, very nervous, totally predictable and would fawn over none other than Sasuke Uchiha. Oh, how Gaara loathed him. To Gaara and his friends, he was the most pompous, arrogant, all around douchebag at the school. Every girl loved him, every teacher loved him, nerds wanted to be him, everyone feared the power he held, and everyone wanted to be friends with him. His dark obsidian eyes made girls swoon and he was great at getting what he wanted.

'God, not another dumb little fangirl, I already know I'm going to want to punch her in the face just to make her shut up.' Gaara thought.

But, he was NOT prepared for what walked into that classroom. A girl, no larger than 5'3, holding a black and pink skateboard walked in with hair similar to the color of a cherry blossom petal. Her hair was cropped short, so the ends were slightly jagged and angular. She wore black converse XX Hi shoes with black cut up and safety pinned skinny jeans tucked into them, a tank top that had a skeletal rib cage on it. She had no make-up on, which was a surprise to everyone since she had slightly pink lips.

"Yo, man, pull your jaw off the floor." Kiba whispered.

"My jaw isn't on the floor, besides she isn't even that cute." Gaara said, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself more than Kiba.

"Psh, she's probably gunna turn out just like all those dumb whores." Karin jabbed her thumb diagonally towards some of Sasuke's fangirls.

"Definitely." Shino added in.

"W-w-well…she kinda looks c-c-cold." Hinata observed.

"No!" Lee shouted as he stood up, causing his chair to fall, over. "You must be passionate and youthful like your name suggests! Never give up on youth my youthful blossom!" Lee gracefully put a hand on his heart and reached towards Sakura's direction.

"Lee, enough sit down or I won't allow you to attend P.E." Jiraiya sternly warned. As soon as he said that, Lee deflated on the floor. "Now, darling, tell us about yourself." Jiraiya gently put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off with a jerk of her shoulder.

"Look, nobody cares that I'm new here, so lay off." Sakura coldly said as she strode towards a seat next to Hinata, which caused Hinata to play with her fingers.

'Damn! That chicks crazy.' Gaara thought to himself.

**'Hehehe, yeah, we like 'em feisty.' Shukaku smirked.**

'I thought I got rid of you years ago!' Gaara yelled.

**'Face it, squirt, you can't get rid of me. I'm your other personality.' He flicked Gaara on the forehead.**

Gaara quietly growled, but was stopped due to hearing Hinata giggle. He inconspicuously looked over to see Hinata giggling over something Sakura probably said, since Sakura was smiling. Her smile made a weird feeling erupt from the core of his heart, and he both liked it and was repulsed by it. Gaara had never felt anything like this before and it was freaking him out, he felt weak against a mere girl.

"Pathetic." Gaara muttered.

"Will someone show Sakura around the campus?" Jiraiya asked. When no one raised their hand, he decided to randomly pick someone. "Uchiha, you shall escort this young maiden around." Suddenly, Gaara raised his hand.

"I'll do it." He said. He glanced over at Sasuke to see his expression, but Sasuke merely smirked and raised his eyebrows. Oh, how he made Gaara's blood boil. There had always been a long-standing feud between the two teens ever since middle school everything was a competition. But, when Sasuke started joking about all the girls he could easily get with then it became serious. Gaara knew after that every girl he talked to he probably did do something with them, and he felt pity on the new girl, especially if she had to spend even one millisecond with Sasuke.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sakura asked while waving her hand in front of his face. Gaara looked up to the clock and realized the bell rang a couple minutes ago.

"Whatever. I don't even wanna do this." Gaara abruptly stood up and walked out of the classroom.

"Nobody asked you to anyway." Sakura rolled her eyes and nonchalantly exited behind him.

"Hm." Gaara said as he started to walk away from her.

"Hey, if you want I can show you around." A velvety smooth voice said to the pinkette, causing Gaara to look over his shoulder.


	2. Unknown

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists!**

* * *

Gaara saw Sasuke leaning against the wall beside the classroom door; he was eyeing Sakura like a piece of meat.

"So, what do you say?" Sasuke seductively asked while he counteracted his weight to help him push off the wall. Gaara decided that Sakura, being the weak scrawny girl she was, would need some help with the Uchiha.

"I don't need your help." Sakura coldly said to him. Sasuke was met with a gaze that was almost as cold and cocky as his was.

"It's alright, it won't be a waste of my time and I would be happy to do it." Sasuke slinked over and draped his arm over her shoulders.

"Well, it would be a waste of my time." She grabbed his hand with her thumb and pointer finger and lifted it off her shoulder. "Sorry, lover boy, but I don't wanna be your next play thing. See ya later." Sakura winked and saluted Sasuke with two fingers as she rode off on her skateboard. Both Sasuke and Gaara were dumbfounded, and their gazes soon met. Sasuke angrily stalked over towards Gaara.

"What the fuck did you tell her, you freak?" Sasuke gripped Gaara's t-shirt in his fist.

"Wouldn't waste my breath on you." Gaara smirked as he shoved Sasuke off of him and began following the sound of teacher's yelling at a delinquent to get off a skateboard.

"Whatever, Sabaku, that girl's gunna be mine by the end of the week." Sasuke said more to himself than anyone. Sasuke had never been rejected by anyone in his whole life, which just inflated his ego, but now there was actually a girl who didn't even give him a second glance. This caused him to realize that he wasn't as great as he thought he was, which scared him. So, what do great Uchihas do? That's right, if plan A doesn't work use plan B, manipulation, then on to plan C, force. By any means, he would make sure he tamed Sakura Haruno.

Luckily, Gaara had second period with Sakura. Their second period was art, which is the class everyone just does what they want. He decided to observe her and try and figure out how she worked, but all she did was sit at her desk and sketch while listening to her I-pod. It didn't seem like Gaara was going to get anywhere, but he did notice that she didn't even try to talk to anyone.

'She's probably some chick that thinks she's better than everyone else, snob.' Gaara thought with pure disgust.

**'You're so dumb! You're acting like a little kid seeing a salted snail.' Shukaku sighed**

'No, those are cool. She, on the other hand, is just disgusting.' He began to mindlessly sketch.

**'Are you fucking blind? Just look at her, with those emerald eyes, porcelain skin, and all those delicious curves.' Shukaku smirked and licked his lips in pleasure.**

'God, you're such a sick fuck!' Gaara yelled.

**'You and I are one kid, and, whether you like it or not, we think she's hot. Plus, she's a feisty one. You don't find 'em like her anymore, besides it's time you found someone.'**

'I don't even like her, much less know her, and she isn't that hot.' Gaara said as he adorned a smug smirk.

**Shukaku chuckled. 'Kid, check your paper.'**

Gaara had drawn a girl that looked similar to Sakura standing under a Sakura tree with a calming smile placed upon her lips. The picture made her look like a goddess; her eyes glimmered with compassion and mischief. He couldn't understand what was happening to him, he had only met her today, and he didn't even know her at all. So, why was he doing things like this? He was brought out of his thoughts when the bell for third period rang. To him, the whole day went by in a blur, until lunch rolled around. Gaara decided to avoid the pinkette at all costs, just in case she did trigger some weird thing within him. So, he sat eating with his friends, except Hinata wasn't at the table.

"Yo, guys, where's Hinata?" Kiba said as he practically ate his whole hamburger in one bite.

"Well, I saw her in the halls. She said she had to head to her locker real quick, then she'd meet us in here." Karin said as she took a huge gulp of water.

"Maybe she wasn't feeling very youthful and went to see the nurse." Lee said while taking a bite of his power granola bar.

"I only saw her during first." Gaara said as he sat there.

"You think she's okay?" Shino quietly asked as he ate a piece of sushi from his bento box. The whole group looked at each other, then they all ran off in separate directions to look for Hinata. Hinata had always been bullied due to her abnormalities, and she was always the perfect target since she never told anyone or fought back. Gaara was running down the hallway when he heard voices.

"I thought we told you not to hang around Gaara so much, you little bitch."

"Yeah, we don't care if your daddy's the big, bad Hiashi Hyuuga. You better just stay out of our way." Gaara could hear something slam against the lockers. Paranoia came over him, and he sprinted to where he could hear the girls cackling. Ever since they met, Gaara thought of Hinata as his little sister and felt the need to protect her, at least until she found a boyfriend. As he was rounding the corner, he saw a sight that shocked him, even if he didn't show it. He saw Hinata hiding behind none other than the nuisance that bothered his thoughts and one of the girls crumpled on the ground.

"Why the hell did you do that to her?" The blonde friend cried out as she tried to seem intimidating.

"One, she was fucking annoying, and, two, she was bullying Hinata for no reason." Sakura shielded Hinata as she clutched onto her shirt.

"Hinata keeps flirting with Gaara, and Gaara is our future husband." Now the blonde was visibly shaking.

"So, you guys are going to share him? Your friend over there would gladly stab you in the back and steal him for herself. Besides, he doesn't even like you two." Sakura glared at the girls. The blonde girl suddenly lunged at Sakura to hit her, but Sakura managed to catch her fist and hit her square in the jaw causing the girl to land next to her friend. She could feel Hinata clutch her shirt harder, and Sakura turned so she could see her. Hinata was biting her bottom lip so hard it turned white.

"Hinata stop your lip is going to bleed." Sakura gently said. Hinata began sniffling, and soon she began cry loudly. Gaara came out from hiding to comfort Hinata, but Sakura had beaten him to it. The pinkette was whispering to Hinata something that made her smile as she ceased to cry.

"Th-thanks Sakura-chan." Hinata said as she wiped her teary eyes. Sakura just gently smiled as a way to say you're welcome. The girls suddenly noticed Gaara standing there and Hinata ran over to him, as if she were a puppy.

"Gaara, c-can we have S-sakura eat with us, please?" Hinata asked. Gaara looked over at Sakura and noticed that her knuckles had started to bleed, probably from that punch.

'Why the hell would she protect Hinata? I guess I could have the gang interrogate her, hm, what a great idea.' Gaara thought as a smirk grew on his face. Anyone who didn't know Gaara would think his smirk was a sinister one, but it was actually an arrogant one.

"Hn." Gaara monotonously said, he turned on his heel and walked away. Hinata grabbed Sakura by the hand and dragged her over to Gaara's side. Gaara noticed that Hinata was comfortable around Sakura, and it seemed like Hinata dropped most of her barrier around Sakura. He couldn't understand how this stupid girl had such an effect on Hinata usually she didn't even want to talk to other people.

As soon as they entered the cafeteria, they made a B line towards their friends, and suddenly everyone was coddling Hinata. Afterwards they noticed the "new girl" sitting at their table.

"Who's this weirdo?" Karin asked.

"K-karin, don't be s-so mean…" Hinata tried to act stern but ultimately failed.

"She is Sakura Haruno." Shino said as he pushed his circular sunglasses up by the rim.

"Woah, there," Sakura interjected, "How do you know me?"

"Oh, don't worry, Shino knows everyone in this school. It's kinda like his job." Kiba grinned.

"Well, you have one creepy job." She teased Shino causing most to laugh, Gaara being the exception.

"Well, my youthful blossom, I am Rock Lee the man you're destined to fall passionately in love with." Lee creepily winked at her. "That is Kiba, Karin, and as you already know Shino, Hinata, and Gaara."

"So, is there anything I should know about this rinky dink school?" Sakura asked as she searched her backpack for her Vitamin water. As if to answer her question, the cafeteria doors burst open and a great wave of silence fell over the whole room. A group of people came in, and Sakura could already tell they were trouble. At the head of the group was none other than Sasuke Uchiha, but she had no idea who the other people were.

"Who the hell are they?" Sakura whispered to Shino, since he was basically a stalker on some level.

"In the lead is Sasuke Uchiha, next to him is his best friend Naruto Uzumaki, on the Uchiha's left is Neji Hyuuga, and on the outer parts are Suigetsu Hozuki, Jugo Tenbin, and Ino Yamanaka." Shino pointed to each one as he began talking. Suddenly, Sasuke glanced towards Sakura's table and sauntered over.

"Hey, sexy, now why are you hanging out with these losers? Why don't you just hang with us?" Sasuke gently draped his arm over Sakura's slender shoulders.

"No thanks. I'm perfectly fine here." She sneered while gingerly pushing his arm off of her.

"How can you say no to him? Are you crazy billboard brow?" Ino jeered.

"Psh, at least I'm not a pig." Sakura rolled her eyes. Ino's face became contorted with anger, and she began to walk towards Sakura.

"Listen you pink haired freak, I am Ino Yamanaka of the famous Yamanaka family!" She jabbed her finger against Sakura's forehead causing Sakura to fly off the handle and slap Ino, causing a high-pitched echo to fill the room. Ino fell backwards into Sasuke's arms even though he dropped her a second later. Sakura got up and pushed open the cafeteria doors, once the doors shut you could hear her skateboard wheels squeak as se rode away.


	3. Pieces of Her

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists!**

* * *

A silence fell upon the cafeteria for a few seconds, then it was similar to a beehive. There was gossiping, chattering, mostly annoying buzzing about the new girl. Gaara was trying to see what they were saying about her, but Karin interrupted his thoughts.

"That was fucking priceless!" Karin said as she began laughing like a lunatic.

"I wonder why S-Sakura did that." Hinata timidly said aloud.

"Who cares? That was amazing! That blonde bitch had it coming." Karin said while wiping tear away.

"Maybe she's actually crazy and escaped from the looney bin." Kiba offered.

"I doubt that highly, Kiba." Shino said as he began to get up.

"Yo, man, where you goin'?" Kiba asked.

"Research." Was all that Shino said as he began to head over to the library, and Kiba had decided to go with him.

Meanwhile, Karin began flirting with Suigetsu, who seemed to love the attention. Gaara knew they liked each other for a while, but Suigetsu was told that he couldn't be with a freakazoid like her. On the ground, Jugo and Naruto were trying to wake Ino up, while Neji and Sasuke were talking about something away from both groups.

"G-Gaara, can we find Sakura?" Hinata asked. Gaara looked at her without any emotion, then softly nodded and off the two went. But not before Sasuke stopped Gaara from opening the door.

"Where the hell are you going Sabaku?" Sasuke sneered.

"None of your damn business Uchiha." Gaara glared daggers at him until Hinata pushed him to keep going. The duo was looking around for Sakura for what seemed like hours, but it was only a few minutes.

"Hinata, do you know where she would be?" Gaara turned around to face Hinata.

"N-no. I don't even know her schedule." As Hinata was speaking the bell suddenly erupted, letting the students know it was time for class. Gaara cursed under his breath and began to go to class.

* * *

Gaara rushed out of his last class to the fountain where his group met up at everyday after school. Everyone was there, except Sakura.

"Hey." Gaara carelessly greeted.

"Hey Gaara. Do you know where Sakura lives, the dumb teacher told me to give her the homework." Karin waved a piece of paper in the air.

"I don't even know her that well. So, why the hell would I know where she lives?" Gaara defended.

"Cuz, bro, you were totally checking her out this morning." Kiba wiggled his eyebrows at Gaara.

"This again?" Gaara grunted. "I was not checking her out. She's just different from other girl's around here."

"Me thinks somebody doth protest too much." Shino eloquently said.

"Me thinks somebody should shut up before I make them." Gaara leered, even though Shino just shrugged it off making the situation funnier.

"O-Oh, yeah, S-Shino didn't you go to the library to f-find info?" Hinata pointed out.

"That's the weird thing Hinata, there was no record of Sakura Haruno anywhere in the school database." Shino stated.

"You mean nothing, nadda, zilch?" Kiba asked.

"Exactly, it was like she didn't even exist according to school records."

* * *

_At Gaara's_

Gaara was sitting on the roof of his house as he watched the stars up above. He loved watching them shine and glow, even if there weren't that many out. They made him feel wanted and accepted, they helped him bear the solitude of his dreary run down life. But, recently it had started getting interesting now that Sakura was around. Immediately after he thought that, Gaara began to shake his head as if he could get the thought out by doing that. He decided to get his mind off her by taking a drive downtown.

Thirty minutes later, he parked his black and red motorcycle in a parking lot and went to look at the shops. Most of the old people loved him for some reason, Gaara always thought it was pity, and whenever he was around they would give him samples to take home. He came across a small new restaurant that was packed with people and had a waiting list outside the door where people could sign up for a table. Gaara became curious and peeked through the window. There he saw Sakura with a short white apron tied around her hips that covered the front of her uniform black shorts. She had her hair tied in an incredibly short ponytail with two black barrettes on the right side of her head and had a uniform long sleeve white polo shirt with her name embroidered above the pocket. The restaurant lights gave her a glow as she smiled and greeted customers, she looked positively radiant. Gaara tore his eyes away from her and ran back to his motorcycle to begin his trip home.

When he got home, it was a little past eleven. Soon, it was almost one in the morning and Gaara was still working on an English project, when suddenly he was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of squeaking wheels outside his window. He opened his blinds and was surprised to see Sakura skateboarding down the street.

'What the fuck? Shouldn't she be at home?' Gaara thought completely confused

**'Duh, dingus, we just saw her at her job.' Shukaku said**

'That's not it, I mean look at the time. She should have been done earlier.'

**' Let's follow her! :D' Shukaku said completely excited **

'No! That's dumb, let's just ask her Monday.'

**'Laaaaame!' Shukaku suddenly deflated**

Outside, Sakura was entering the house across the street, but when she opened the door someone smacked her across the face and dragged her inside. Too bad Gaara was having his own conversation with himself.

* * *

_The Next Day_

Gaara arrived at school to find Sakura sitting in the back of the classroom with a hoodie covering the left side of her face. He thought it was weird, but let it pass by. He had his own problems to deal with; his father. He would soon be back from his seven-month business trip and would be giving Gaara hell for not wanting to be the next president. His father was the president of a huge shipping corporation and wanted one of his sons to take his place. But, Kankuro had convinced him to let him get an education at a local college after graduation, which only left Gaara for the role. Gaara despised everything his father stood for and would never became president. Especially not after the way his father abused him after his mother passed away, even if they had reconciled years later. The hatred for his father still burned with a passion and that would never change.

First period went by in a flash for Gaara, and he was about to talk to Sakura about last night when his phone started buzzing; it was Shino.

"What is it?" Gaara asked.

"Come down to the library now!" Shino practically yelled. This was unlike Shino, Shino was usually calm and collected, but just a few seconds ago he sounded like he just lost his head and couldn't find it. Gaara snapped his cell phone shut and ran to the library. He found Shino at his usual computer, but Shino had his coat and glasses off which was peculiar.

"What's going on?" Gaara monotonously asked.

"Well, remember how I couldn't find anything on Sakura?" Gaara nodded. "Well, I just found some important stuff." Shino enlarged the screen he had been studying a few minutes earlier. Gaara looked over Shino's shoulder to study the screen and was surprised by what he saw. It was an old article that talked about a disastrous fire that occurred in a hospital, and in that hospital several people died including the chief of doctor's Tamaki Haruno. His wife, out of desperation, ran into the building to try and save him but never made it out. Their child, Sakura Haruno, was put into the care of her aunt. Plus, I did some undercover work and found out that she works at The Buzz as a waitress from 8-12 and has several bruises today." Shino fluently said, as if memorized.

"From who?" Gaara asked seething with rage. He couldn't believe Sakura was in a similar situation and never told anyone.

"Her name is Konan Sato, around 5'5, amber eyes, dyed blue hair, works at an art gallery with her friend, and knows karate. That's all I know." Shino said as he rubbed his sore eyes. He was about to say something to Gaara, but just as he was about to open his sore eyes he heard the door slam. He knew where Gaara was going.

Gaara was running down hallways looking for Sakura's classroom, and eventually he found it.

"Sakura Haruno, Tsunade wants you." Gaara nonchalantly walked out of the room knowing Sakura would be behind him in a few minutes. Sure enough, she was. They walked until they reached the outdoor area, then Gaara abruptly turned around and yanked Sakura's hood off. What he saw shocked him.


	4. Golden Eyes

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists!**

* * *

Gaara unveiled Sakura's hidden face to reveal a large bruise discoloring her pale skin and a black eye was beginning to form around her left eye.

"What happened?" Gaara asked in a demanding tone.

"None of your business, I can handle my own problems." Sakura angrily put her hood back on. Gaara became livid and forcefully grabbed her by the arm.

"Tell me, now." Gaara stared directly into her emerald eyes. Sakura tried to pull out of his clutch, but it was to no avail.

"Why do you even care? So you can pity me, or so you can toss me aside like trash?" Sakura unevenly whispered the last part, sounding like she would break down. This caught Gaara off guard, causing him to loosen his grip. She felt this, yanked out of his hold, and ran away. Gaara was too shocked to do anything. All he could think was that she felt like he had so many years ago, the way he didn't want anyone near him. He closed off everyone around him and slipped into a deep depression, to the point of not eating.

* * *

_After School_

Sakura kept replaying the conversation she had with Gaara. She never wanted anyone to find out, but she mostly thought nobody would care. Surprisingly, Gaara did though. When he grabbed her she felt a spark rise through her arm, and when he stared at her with his deep forest green eyes….dang!

'Snap out of it, Sakura, he's only worried about you as a friend. Nobody would ever care for you, just like that one night.' Sakura began to get lost in her memories, but she was shaken out of them when she heard someone call to her. It was Konan, her overly critical and protective cousin. After that incident years ago, Konan cared for her like they were siblings, and Sakura would never forget that. She turned to face Konan, who was standing in the doorway. Cautiously, she began to walk up the steps. Konan visibly sighed.

"Get in, we need to talk." She said with a gentle smile on her face, in her eyes was regret. Sakura instantly knew what they would talk about. She walked over to the small three-person beige, pawnshop leather couch they bought for fifty bucks. Konan rigidly walked over to her sapphire blue lounge chair, also purchased at the pawnshop, and plopped down in it. Once again, she sighed and placed her head in her hands. Minutes of silence passed until she finally looked up, and the ray of light from the window hit her face. They shared the same ivory skin and nose, but Konan had several different qualities that were different. She had amber colored eyes with specks of gold, a slightly messy "I just rolled outta bed but I tried to brush" blue bun, and had thin lips that would sometimes form a small smile; A smile similar to that of a child's, a mixture of mischief and purity. They locked eyes for a few more minutes.

"Sakura, please take your hood off." Konan broke the long silence, and saw Sakura's eyes widen with shock. She watched her hesitantly take off her hood and looked at the damage that had done. Konan's mouth slightly opened as she kneeled in front of Sakura to examine her bruised face. She never meant to hit her hard, maybe just a light tap. But, she forgot no matter how rebellious she is, Sakura was still very sensitive. Delicately, she caressed the sensitive area like a mother would and Sakura flinched. Realizing it was still raw, she withdrew.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean for…" Konan started to apologize, but was abruptly cut off.

"Don't, Konan, it doesn't matter." Sakura reassuringly smiled at her beloved cousin. Konan sighed out of guilt. She always just had to fly off the handle, it was an awful habit she picked up from when she was in a gang.

"Oh, the neighbors wanted to have us over for dinner since we moved here just a few days ago, so get ready." Konan said as she daintily stood up and walked to her room.

"Ugh! Do I have to?" Sakura yelled down the hall.

"Yes!" Konan yelled back. Sakura pouted and dragged herself to her room. She began going through her stuff and decided on wearing her black and white heart mini dress that flared at the waist. She put on a thin red belt and red bracelet and ransacked her room until she found her red converse high tops. As she was walking out of her room, she forgot about her bruises and began to put on pounds upon pounds of concealer on.

"You ready?" Konan asked on the other side of the door. Sakura opened the door, and after a few moments Konan gave a nod of approval.

A few minutes, later they arrived across the street at their host's house, and Sakura kept wringing the hem of her dress. She had no idea who these people were or how they would act. Suddenly, the door opened and a moppy head of red hair appeared.

"You're my neighbor?"

"You're my neighbor?" They both said at the same time, except Sakura screamed it while Gaara merely raised a blonde eyebrow.

"Gaara, be NICE!" Temari shrieked from the kitchen, causing Gaara to sigh.

"Be our guest." Gaara escorted the two in. The night went flawlessly, or at least Temari thought so. Turns out that Kankuro and Konan had several things in common, Temari and Sakura became friendly towards each other, and she noticed Gaara glance at her every once in awhile. The light-hearted conversation soon ended and Konan was helping Temari find the obnoxious home phone she lost that was loudly ringing. Kankuro went to take a major "number cuatro", which Gaara did NOT want to know about.

'Well, now what do I do?'

**'There is a very sexy girl sitting across from us.' Shukaku purred.**

Remembering Sakura was in the room, looked towards her and noticed something was off; her black eye was gone. He wondered what kind of magic she pulled and decided to figure it out. But, before he said anything, she got up and began walking out the door. His voice became paralyzed and couldn't utter a word as he watched her walk out.

**'Follow her dipshit!' Shukaku raged and kicked Gaara to get him going.**

'Why should I? It's not like she's anything special.' Gaara rolled his eyes at his split personality, even if he was walking towards the door.

**'Just do it! I'm not letting our woman get away just 'cuz you're stupid!' Shukaku began getting angry.**

Gaara felt like he was forced to find this annoying girl until he almost stepped on said girl. She was sitting down on his porch steps with her arms wrapped around her legs; she sadly starred at the twinkling stars up above. Sakura was lost in all the thoughts that began swirling in her head, when she suddenly felt someone sit next to her. Curiously, she peeked out of the corner of her eye and saw Gaara. About to ask why he came out, Gaara had his own question.

"What happened to your eye? How did it get better?" Gaara inspected her now unmarred face. Sakura suddenly burst out laughing, forgetting all her thought and just having fun.

"What's so funny?"

"You! I put on make up to hide it, duh." Sakura said in between laughs. As if to test it out, Gaara put his hand on Sakura's cheek, causing both teens to get butterflies. Gaara carefully wiped under Sakura's eye revealing a dark purple splotch which he delicately caressed it with the tip of his finger. He noticed the awkward yet welcoming feeling erupted from his core, but he was not liking it. Well, ok that was a lie, but he was torn between loving the feeling and loathing it.

"Why did you come out here anyway, Gaara?" Sakura gently touched his hand which caused him to instinctively pull away.

"Uh…well…I…" Gaara couldn't just say he was forced to by a split personality. That would definitely make her run away from him, so Shukaku decided to help him out and gave an idea.

"I wanted to see if you were okay." Gaara quickly said as he saw Sakura's blank face turn into a small smile.

"Thanks." Sakura quietly said as they looked at each other, suddenly her body realized how cold it was and began to shiver. She tried to warm herself but was failing at it.

**'Do something, stupid!' **

'What am I supposed to do? Besides why should I do anything?'

**'Cuz you wuv her.' Shukaku began to make kissing noises **

'I barely even now the girl dumbass.'

**'Don't ruin my fun. Ugh, will you at least amuse my idea' Shukaku began to pout**

'Maybe…'

**'Yes! Now it's time for me to shine!' Shukaku took over Gaara's body, without permission.**

Shukaku pulled Sakura closer to him, causing both Gaara and Sakura to become embarrassed. She looked up at him and noticed the color of his eyes was more of a gold color, but she wouldn't bring it up yet. Sakura was just glad that Gaara was being kind to her, maybe she was falling for him.

'You know, I really wouldn't mind if I did fall for you Gaara.' Sakura was content and definitely warm.


	5. Behind the Mask

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists!**

* * *

"Gaara! Have you seen Saku-?" Kankuro opened the door at the site of the two teens. A wide smirk stretched its way across his face, but immediately disappeared once Gaara turned around and glared at him.

"Uh…well…uh… I didn't see anything" Kankuro slowly backed off the porch. Gaara audibly sighed and looked at the girl in his arm; she looked so innocent and sweet. He immediately blushed at the close contact, but managed to fight him off and bring Sakura inside.

"Temari!" Gaara yelled out. Soon, Temari came towards Gaara from the top of the stairs, "What is it Gaara?"

Temari soon saw what he was carrying, Sakura. She held up a finger towards him and went back upstairs, leaving Gaara to think about the being in his arms. Eventually, he heard the stomping of Konan come tumbling down the stairs.

"Did you do anything to her?" Konan suspiciously glared at Gaara.

"No ma'am, she just had a long day." Gaara audaciously matched Konan's glare with his own, sparks began flying between the two fiery beings. Konan then turned around and angelically asked if Sakura could stay in Temari's room for the night.

"Definitely! It'll be like having the sister I never got!" Temari clapped her hands in excitement.

"Hey, Gaara and I aren't that bad." Kankuro acted as if he were highly offended.

"You're right, Gaara isn't that bad." Temari snickered. Something snapped in Kankuro, and he began to chase Temari around with HER own fan.

"Listen, kid," Gaara turned his head to look at Konan. "I was just like you when I was younger, so if you do anything to her I'll kill you." Konan walked right past them and slammed the door on her way out.

* * *

_In the Morning_

Sakura awoke to the smell of bacon, causing her to practically levitate out of her bed. But, she collided with Gaara out in the hallway causing a very suggestive position between the two.

"Well good morning to you to." Gaara smirked at Sakura's blush to increase ten fold. She hastily said her apology and ran down the stairs.

**'Damn! Who knew you had moves kid!' Shukaku mocked Gaara.**

'Well, after what you did last night, I think I do have a crush on her.' Gaara cautiously said the last part of his thought. Shukaku had a huge look of disbelief on his face, but it was soon replaced by a look of victory. He soon began to prance around Gaara's head screaming that he won. Gaara decided to ignore his counter part and went downstairs, only to see a very angry looking Temari, a cocky Kankuro, and a confused Sakura. Deciding that he didn't even wanna know what happened between his siblings, he went over to Sakura to help her find the plates.

* * *

_At school_

Sakura and Gaara were nonchalantly talking and slightly flirting when the P.A system told Gaara that Tsunade needed him, which was weird since school wouldn't start until another forty minutes. Nonetheless, he decided to go.

"You wanted to see me Tsunade?" Gaara monotonously said as he walked into her office just to see Jiraiya and Tsunade furiously making out. Immediately, he slammed the door as shivers ran up and down his spine in loops.

'Tsunade obviously didn't need me, so why would there be an..' His eyes became wide as he sprinted down the hall, while the chains on his dark denim pants echoed. As soon as he got to the classroom, he ran in and found Sasuke trying to convince Sakura of something.

"God, did you not brush your teeth this morning." Sakura waved her petite hand in front of her nose, and Sasuke grabbed her wrist forcing her to look at him.

"Don't pretend you don't want me besides he doesn't even like you. Just get with me." Sasuke mused leaning in closer, only to get knocked upside the head by Gaara.

"Get the fuck out of here, Uchiha." Gaara growled.

"Whatever, but this isn't over sexy." Sasuke winked at Sakura as he walked past Gaara. Sakura's head was downcast while she was in thought. Carefully, Gaara asked if she was all right, and she merely said yes. Eventually, they began to talk again and Gaara had to retell the horror he saw. Soon, the pair was off to second period.

"Class, Sasuke Uchiha is going to be in this class from now on due to scheduling, so be kind." The art teacher sweetly said as Sasuke walked in like he was the boss. He slid Sakura a note as he passed by, which didn't go unnoticed by Gaara. Infuriated and slightly jealous, even though he would never admit it, he yanked the paper out of her hand and read it with her.

_Hey babe, if you wanna have a good time come over to my place, 1208 Wave Pl at the Uchiha Estate. I could give you what that bastard can't, just know he could never fulfill you like I could._

_Sasuke 1(310) 663-1295_

Gaara crumpled up the paper and threw it to the side, "If he pulls anything, tell me. He'll be dead in a second."

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself." Sakura was actually quite flattered about how Gaara would defend her.

'Heh. Kinda like my night in shining armor… Well, maybe black armor.' She began to think about Gaara as the black knight saving her.

'Not too shabby, maybe I do like him.' She looked at Gaara and was met his eyes, causing her to blush and turn away. Sakura silently cursed his name. Gaara smirked at her reaction.

'Damn, she can be cute.' Almost instantly he realized what he thought and cursed her name.

"Alright class, we will be having a group project and presentations today." The teacher clapped her hands together in excitement. "So, I will be naming partners, but there will be a group of three due to the odd number of people in the class." Lucky for Gaara, he was paired with some blubbering fan girl. Meanwhile, Sakura was paired with Sasuke.

**'I demand that we switch places with that asshole!' Shukaku screamed.**

'Shut up. We just have to hope he doesn't pull anything on our, I mean, just Sakura…' Gaara slowly said trying to act inconspicuous.

**'So, kid, you finally see that you wuv her.' Shukaku began to make kissy noises.** At this point Gaara completely tuned out Shukaku and refocused on the Uchiha.

"So, for the project we have to draw portraits. What angle do you want?" Sakura asked with a hint of attitude.

"My good angle." Sasuke arrogantly said.

"So in the dark?" Sakura sweetly said but had a smirk on her face. "Look, stop acting like a jerk. None of your stupid friends are in this class, so stop trying to be alpha male. Nobody cares whether your mister cool here, so drop the act."

"You don't know anything about me." Sasuke said through gritted teeth. He noticed Sakura's gaze towards him soften.

"Sasuke, just be real. I don't care whether you're a complete ass or not, but I'd rather make this project experience not as terrible as it already is." She looked into his eyes, and Sasuke felt like she was being sincere. He felt like she could see into his soul, causing him to lose his composure.

"Hn, then from the 3/4's angle." He quietly said.

As she was sketching, Sasuke took this moment to intimidate his competition, Gaara.

_She's gunna be mine. _Sasuke mouthed to Gaara.

_I'll kill you if you try anything. _Gaara challenged. To this, Sasuke only smirked.

_Challenge accepted. _Sasuke smirked and turned towards Sakura who had just finished the sketch.

"Can I sketch you at this angle?" Sasuke gently guided Sakura's head towards him making it seem as if he were caressing a lover.

"Whatever you want to do." Sakura said as she began to look towards Sasuke. Seeing Sasuke disgruntled she asked what was wrong.

"You're not smiling."

"I don't smile often."

"Just for the project, please." Sasuke practically begged. Sakura sighed and delicately smiled causing both Sasuke and Gaara's hearts to skip a beat.

As the class was cleaning up, Gaara went to help Sakura who was trying to reach a high shelf. He lifted the folded easel stand and placed it on the shelf she was trying to reach.

"Thanks, Gaara. So, how was your partner experience?" Sakura held back a laugh.

"Oh, just great. She drew a picture of me without a shirt on." Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Did she draw the real you, flabs and all?" Sakura snickered but immediately regretted it. Gaara had decided to show her he didn't have flabs, just a reeeeeaaaaallllyyyy nice six pack.

"Do these look like flabs?" He haughtily asked. But, when her face instantaneously became a tomato he yanked his shirt down. Gaara's face suddenly gained a tint of pink.

"Um… Well, I'm gunna go to class." Sakura awkwardly walked away from Gaara trying to remember what he looked like without a shirt. Unfortunately for Gaara, Kiba saw Sakura in the hallway looking like she had an awful sunburn. Kiba's canine teeth began to stick out due to his mouth turning into a full out grin, and he was definitely gunna bother Gaara about it. He turned on his heels about to chase down his redheaded friend, instead he ran head first into someone.

"Like oh my god, what the fridge was that for?" Ino Yamanaka glared at Kiba while massaging her very sore forehead.

"Sorry, Barbie, but I was in a huge hurry and your huge face got in my way." Kiba gibed at the platinum blonde. He saw how angry she got and thought that it was kinda cute.

"Look, dog boy, but I was minding my own business and you just banged your head into me like Zidane head-butted Materazzi." She yelled at him, while trying to make her head stop spinning.

"Well you… Wait, did you just make a sport reference?" Kiba stared at her like she had grown a third head and watched as she buried her face in her palms.

"Oh, god, I totally was not supposed to say that. Don't tell anyone." Ino begged. THE Ino Yamanaka BEGGED Kiba, ok something was seriously going wonky.

"Ok, if this is a prank whoever put you up to it can knock it off. Am I on the TV. show Punked?" Kiba looked around for anyone in the hallway, but there wasn't a single person around. He heard a sigh come from the girl still on the ground and decided he should help her up. So, he extended his hand towards her and graciously took it.

Neither one of them knew that Kiba would yank her towards him due to her frail structure, and they definitely didn't know that each of them would like it. Both stared up at each other, baby blue eyes staring up into chocolate brown ones. Ino pushed him away, grabbed her books from the floor, and ran down the hallway in a tizzy. That left four teens caught up in a whirlwind of emotions.


	6. Drama Bomb

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists!**

* * *

Sakura and Hinata were sitting in their third period, History, chatting about how much Naruto and Hinata would make a cute couple. Well, it was more like Sakura was teasing her and Hinata was denying it would ever happen. Ino sauntered up to the girls and stood in front of their two-person desk.

"What do you want pig?" Sakura looked at Ino from head to toe, and what she saw disgusted her. Ino had long, platinum blond hair in a high ponytail; while her face was adorned with tacky bright blue eye shadow, humongous fake eyelashes, and sparkly lip-gloss. Not to mention her outfit reeked of whoreness…if that's even a word. She wore a light blue halter top that ended right above her bellybutton, pure white denim short shorts that barely even covered her ass when she was standing still, sparkly silver flats, and several silver bangles on both hands. But, Sakura liked Ino's ear piercings, three on each ear, that were intricately placed on her earlobes.

"I want you to do me a favor, billboard brow." Ino hissed. Sakura was about to hit Ino in her "pig" nose, but Hinata yanked on Sakura's belt chains that hung from her skinny jeans. She cast a glance at Hinata, and the two began communicating through their eyes. Eventually, Sakura sighed and turned her attention back to Ino.

"Hinata convinced me to listen to your request, but I may or may not do it." Sakura spoke in an Italian mobster's accent and leaned back in the chair.

"Um… Ok, whatever. Well, I wanted to ask if you could tell me a few things about Kiba." Ino quietly said his name. Sakura heard what she said, but wanted to mess with the annoying girl standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't understand you. You're gunna have to speak louder." Sakura smirked and cocked an eyebrow at Ino, who repeated herself.

"Stop mumbling and tell me already." Sakura repeated this action three more times until Ino finally snapped.

"I said Kiba, you dumbass! God, can you not understand English or do I have to speak in Spanish for you to understand? ¡Yo quería saber algunas cosas acerca de Kiba!" Her fists were shaking with anger, and then she noticed the whole class was looking at her. Ino became paler than her normal skin tone and as soon as Anko came in she told her she needed to use the restroom. Hinata became very worried about the poor girl and asked if she and Sakura could go check up on her, much to Sakura's dismay. Nonetheless, she catered to the whims of her best friend.

"Hinata, we don't even like her, so why are we even trying to help her?" Sakura whined as Hinata dragged her towards the bathroom. Hinata didn't answer her making Sakura even more irritated. To get her attention, she stepped on Hinata's high-low white dress causing Hinata to abruptly stop.

"I-I-I know she i-isn't very nice, but sh-she's still a person with feelings." Hinata may have stuttered, but had a small fire within her eyes. This caused Sakura to smile.

'Heh, guess I've rubbed off on her.' Sakura mused in her own mind. Hinata fixed her blue denim vest and proceeded to drag Sakura down the hallway.

Once they reached the bathroom, Sakura pushed the door open and began looking at the stalls trying to figure out which one Ino was in. Eventually, she chose one and just banged on the door praying she chose the right one. Luckily, a very bloodshot Ino opened the door.

"Don't do that you forehead girl! What would you have done if I wasn't in there?" Ino raged at Sakura.

"I don't know." Sakura just shrugged and sat on the sink ledge, causing Hinata to giggle and Ino to sigh.

"Anyway, Blondie, why'd you run away?" Sakura nonchalantly asked.

"You don't even seem to care, so why should I tell you?" Ino demanded.

"U-um, if I m-may." Hinata intervened. "I was w-worried and m-made Sakura c-come with me." Ino's eyes grew wide, but then returned to normal size.

"Why would you care about me? I hate you Hinata. You're just a stupid, mouse girl who is annoying and is too nice to everyone. Not to mention, you're hopelessly in love with a moron." Ino took a step closer to Hinata to intimidate her, until Sakura stepped between them.

"Look, I don't know what crawled up your ass and died, but Hinata was just trying to be nice. If I had it my way we never would have come to find you, princess. Not everything is always about you, and about Kiba I hope he hates your guts as much as everyone in the whole school does!" Sakura fiercely glared at Ino, and turned to walk out the door with Hinata. But, Hinata grabbed her wrist and forced her to stay.

"Ino, I d-don't care what you s-say about me," Hinata almost inaudibly said to Ino. "But if you say one more awful thing about Naruto I won't hesitate to slap your cheap, no class face." Hinata said with stern voice and looked at Ino with pure confidence. With a huge, toothy grin on her face, Sakura slung her arm over Hinata's shoulders.

"I guess I've rubbed off on you, Hinata." Sakura proudly winked at the now blushing Hyuuga. They turned to leave when they heard Ino whisper for them not to leave. Both girls looked over their shoulders and asked why simultaneously.

Ino began to tell her story about how her mother pressured her to be at the top of all her classes and always get A's, which resulted in Ino studying nonstop and cramming any type of information she could get her hands on into her brain. But, she spent most nights crying under her covers due to her lack of friends and being made fun of or used by the few she had. She knew she was being mocked, but she put up with it. She was afraid that they would leave her all alone if she didn't. One day she finally snapped, and decided to stop being the geeky girl. That's when her life took a turn for the worse; she did everything and anything to become popular.

"I guess I didn't care whether it was the good or bad kind. I just didn't want to be the nerd anymore. I'm so sorry for what I said Hinata. Naruto actually really likes you a lot." Ino tried to wipe away her falling tears, but to no avail. Hinata felt like crying for the girl too but tried to stay composed. Sakura, on the other hand, felt like this was Ino's karma coming back to bite her.

"Yo, Yamanaka." Sakura called as she was heading out the door, making sure to get Ino's attention. "I'll see what I can do about Kiba, but just promise not to be a bitch." Sakura winked at the crumpled girl on the floor and went back to class.

"Hey, Hinata, is Sakura always that mean?" Ino caught Hinata's attention.

"W-w-well what she j-just said was her version o-o-of being nice. Sakura can be very sweet, b-but it takes time for h-her to warm up to people. Except for Karin, they a-are really similar s-so they were c-close fast." Hinata began to slightly explain.

"Then why does it take her so long to warm up to people?" Ino asked as Hinata helped her off the floor.

"P-probably something from her past like most of us." Hinata and Ino began to talk about their choice of men as they walked back to class.

* * *

_Fifth Period_

"Hey, Karin, wait up!" Sakura waved to the spiky haired girl.

"Hey, pinky. You excited for the ultimate day of P.E ever? There's gunna be an all out war!" Karin grinned at Sakura, who obviously didn't understand. "Ugh, it's dodge ball day today, duh!" Karin flicked Sakura's forehead leaving a red spot on it.

"What the hell was that for?" Sakura rubbed her sore forehead.

"It was for being dumb." Karin mocked Sakura by making a funky face at her, which turned into a battle of who's face could become the most contorted. Almost out of thin air, they heard someone cough. Both girls looked towards the sound with their faces still contorted, and saw Suigetsu standing there with a smile on his face.

"Oh, uh, Suigetsu what are you doing here?" Karin became completely embarrassed and stared at the ground.

"Well, I have P.E next. What about you?" He lifted her chin up with one finger and noticed her light plink blush spread across her cheeks. Karin got caught on her own tongue, so Sakura stepped in.

"She has P.E right now too, as a matter of fact. Hey, Karin, I wanted to go change into the uniform early, so could Suigetsu walk you to the gym?" Sakura sweetly asked.

Karin was still tongue tied, so she just kept saying um. Suigetsu decided that his would be a perfect opportunity to dazzle Karin with his masculine charm.

"Sure, Sakura, I don't mind walking a beauty like this to class. I bet all the guys will be jealous they didn't snag you when they had the chance." Suigetsu winked at Karin, which only made her bright pink cheeks grow rapidly. Taking this as her cue to leave, Sakura ran towards the gym. When she reached the doors of the gym, she felt her new phone go off and noticed she had a text message from none other than Karin.

**OMG thx so much Pnky! XD**

That was what the text read, making Sakura laugh to herself. She hoped Suigetsu wouldn't be an ass or mess up this chance with Karin, but Karin would still probably love him even if he did. The pinkette sighed over her friends love stricken ways and decided to get ready for P.E. Finally arriving at the locker room, Sakura began to change into her terrible uniform.

All of the students attending Fire High had to wear P.E uniforms, which was dumb since there wasn't a dress code. Either way, Sakura didn't mind since the outfits weren't skimpy or completely gross. The mandatory uniform for both genders was red gym shorts; girls had the option of mid-thigh shorts, and a white short sleeve top with their last names printed in bold red letters on the top and the Fire High insignia.

When Sakura was finished putting her hair in a messy low ponytail she walked out to the polished gym floor. Luckily, most of the guys along with Karin were also in this class, sadly Sasuke was in this class along with his stupid posse.

'I wonder where Gaara is.' Sakura thought to herself

_'Oh, so you just wanna know where Gaara is?' Inner Sakura mused._

'Yeah, I mean I- Wait, a second why are you here?' She yelled at herself.

_'You know I was just hangin' out, and I thought I'd say hi. Besides, girl you need some major help in the getting a boyfriend department.' Inner Sakura was mocking Sakura._

'I don't need or want a boyfriend. Besides I don't like anyone.' Sakura punched her inner in the arm.

_'Ow, not so hard! You know that will never get you Gaara.' Inner Sakura began to rub her sore arm._

'I do not like Gaara!' She annunciated every word to get her point across.

_'Don't even! He is so cute, strong, smart, funny, cute, cute, and to top it all off SEXAY~' Behind Inner Sakura a large neon sign popped up with the word sexay on it._

'Even if I did like him, he would never like me.' Sakura said with slight disappointment.

_'Fine, don't believe me. But when you guys get together, I am definitely saying I told you so!' Inner Sakura made moose ears and wiggled her fingers at Sakura._

'Ugh, I hate her.' Sakura leaned against the gym wall waiting for one of her friends.

* * *

Minutes passed and she finally heard Kiba, Gaara, Lee, and Kankuro come into the spacious gym. She could tell they were talking about something good from the looks on their faces, so she decided to hide from them to eavesdrop.

"So, yeah, I'm definitely thinkin 'bout asking Ino out after that. What do you guys think?" Kiba asked the others. Obviously, Gaara said nothing since he hates excessively speaking.

"Oh, Kiba, my ever youthful pal! I think it's a brilliant idea. You should follow your gut instinct and take her out on the town." Lee full heartedly smacked Kiba on the shoulder, but everyone knew it was a sign of friendliness.

"Isn't Sasuke gunna be a problem for you guys though?" Kankuro skeptically threw in.

"If he has a problem with it, he can talk to me." Kiba punched his left hand with his right fist, making Gaara smirk.

"Speaking of chicks, Gaara have you told Sakura you like her yet?" Kiba carelessly asked, completely forgetting his promise.

"What? Gaara how could you steal away my youthful love's heart?" Lee feigned sadness. "Well, since it is you, I will gladly let my beloved fall into the arms of my friend." Lee gave Gaara his signature thumb up, wink, and gleaming teeth smile.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, back up. Gaara likes Sakura?" Kankuro asked completely befuddled. Everybody looked towards Gaara with a smirk on their faces.

"Look, I don't like her. She's just interesting." Gaara reasoned, hoping no one would notice he was lying.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Kiba asked completely confused.

"No, but it is a stepping stone towards a total hook up." Kankuro grinned as his brother's eyes widened. But, they went back to normal size quickly when he caught a glimpse of Lee and their P.E. teacher, Might Guy. Sadly, he will never be able to get rid of that mental image, ever.

As Sakura heard the guys feet shuffle away, she put her hand over her chest. She couldn't believe what she just heard, but more importantly how did she feel about him? Did she like him? Would she want to date him? There was an undeniable attraction to him, but did that equal love? Her mind was in a mess, until she heard Guy blow his whistle signaling his students to start class. Without a thought, Sakura walked towards the crowd. She didn't notice she was standing next to the one person she couldn't stand.


	7. Fate

**None of the characters are mine! They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and their rightful artists!**

* * *

Of course the one person to be standing there would be that creepo Neji. Neji Hyuuga, Hinata's cousin, was the most arrogant, pompous, all around jerk-bag on the face of the Earth. Granted Sakura's never talked to him, but it was completely obvious. He radiated arrogance from miles away, and the thousands of stories she had heard about him weren't all too great either. According to Lee, Neji told him that his fate was to become crippled in a terrible accident. But, the accident would be so detrimental that he would never be able to go to the Olympics like he has always dreamed. Lee paid no attention to him, but now he's become very superstitious, about everything. Sakura looked at him from her peripheral vision.

Long black hair tied with a white elastic that reached the small of his back, which complemented his pale lavender eyes. During Guy's entire speech, his face was stern, hard, and cold. It seemed as if his mouth was permanently turned into a slight frown of disproval.

"Alright, whoever is standing to the right of you will be your dodge ball partner. Both people will help each other in taking down members of the opposite team. Now everyone on this half of the room will be on this side," Guy gestured to the right half of the class. "And vice versa." Then, he gestured to the left half. "Now, my students, I want to see you sweating with youthfulness, otherwise you will have to run 30 laps for the rest of the class period."

"I won't let you down, sir!" Lee proudly screamed towards Guy. The older version of Lee turned towards his favorite student, and they ensued into a routine they usually do. Both would scream the others name until they finally ran into each other's arms and envelop the other into a "manly" hug. Once that was accomplished, a sunset would suddenly appear and they would run off into the distance, other times they would stand on a cliff overlooking the ocean. No one knew where the scenery came from, but no one really cared either way.

Sakura sighed at the scene and turned so she wouldn't have to see anything else from the two eager beavers. She scanned through the class to notice that her friends got paired with good matches; Gaara/Kimimaruo, Kiba/Karin, Kankoru/Suigetsu, and Lee/TenTen.

'Lucky, jerks.' Sakura angrily thought and trudged over towards Neji. Once she got near him, he gave her a scowl and tried to ignore her.

"I already know you don't want to work with me, your highness. But, I'm not going to run 30 fucking laps, so let's at least cooperate. And wipe that nasty face off." Sakura twirled away from him only to get yanked back.

"What do you mean by nasty face?" Neji practically growled.

"Oh, well I guess that's just your face then." Sakura condescendingly smiled and tried to walk away again, to no avail as Neji stepped in front of her.

"Look, I don't just play to play. It's my fate to be a prodigy at everything, so you are just dead weight to me." Neji haughtily told her.

"What's up with you and all this fate shit?" Annoyed Sakura began tapping her foot while she placed her hands on her hips.

"Your fate is inescapable." Neji swiftly said and walked away towards the court.

As the minutes passed, the last four on the court were Gaara/Kimimaro and Neji/Sakura. Both pairs were out of breath and sweating youth.

"Hey, Neji do you know what capoeira is?" Sakura managed to ask, as she tried to breath.

"Yeah, my father used to teach it, why?" Neji didn't quite understand the sudden question.

"Well, maybe it was fate you happen to know it." Sakura winked, and suddenly it clicked for him as he nodded his head.

Through communication using their actions, the teens formed a system of how to avoid the rubber balls. If one swung out to hit the other they had to swivel around themselves to maneuver around the projectile, if one back handsprung the other was to catch the projectile, and if they winked towards each other they would run towards each other and flip over the other. Their classmates couldn't help but stare in awe. The two polar opposites were working like a well-oiled machine, it was just absurd. With their dynamic strategy, Neji and Sakura easily won the dodge ball game, and formed a stronger bond.

"You guys were awesome!" Kiba ran up to the two and high-fived Sakura, seeing as Neji wouldn't accept the high-five from the Inuzuka. Similar congratulations were said from everybody, except the one person Sakura wanted to talk to. She looked throughout the gym for Gaara, but what she saw made her question everything. There he was flirting with some random background girl, what was her name? Natsuki, Machiko… Matsuri that's her name! After eavesdropping on the boy's conversation, she thought Gaara was into her but it turns out she was wrong. Dead wrong.

Sasuke remained silent throughout the period, he had no desire to interact with the dozens of fan girls flocking around his group. But when he looked over at Sakura, he noticed her eyes looked like they had the color sucked out of them and they seemed like a shade of dark green. The look on her face seemed as if she'd seen someone get crushed with a ton of boulders. He followed her line of vision to see that her boy toy was flirting with some random chick.

'Heh, what a dumbass.' Sasuke smirked as he walked in the two of them, only to hear Gaara flat out refusing Matsuri's invitation to go on a date. Too bad too, Matsuri didn't have a problem forcing Gaara's arm into the middle of her breasts.

"Good luck explaining this to **her**." Sasuke smugly told Gaara as he walked to the locker room. Gaara looked across the gym and saw Sakura's face. It looked as if she had seen a young child get run over, a look of pure pain and sadness, but in the blink of an eye. Sakura's face became emotionless. A sinking feeling entered Gaara's stomach.

"Well, I'm gunna go change." He could hear Sakura say as she briskly walked to the locker room.

* * *

_Sixth Period_

Luckily, none of Sakura's friends were in her last period, which meant she finally had some time to herself. Sadly, her last period was math, BLEGH! She went to sit in her seat when she noticed there was a substitute today meaning no actual work.

'Score.' Sakura smirked, propped her feet onto the table creating a loud thud, and stared out the window. What she saw partially surprised her, but mostly crushed whatever feelings she had for Gaara into dust. There he was, the guy who was supposed to like her, making out furiously with Matsuri. So much for a potential boyfriend, she knew it shouldn't have affected her as much as it did. But she could feel her heart being pulverized.

"Teacher, I'm having female troubles. Can I leave?" Sakura yelled at the teacher. He was so flustered about the thought of a period his face flushed at least fifty shades of red and just nodded. She ran for the door and rode out of the school grounds as fast as she could.

When Sakura got home, she ran straight to her room and rummaged through her closet. Eventually, she found exactly what she was looking for, a journal. Her personal journal. The one no one knew about, the one that she kept since she was 10, the one that she confides in, the one that is her last lifeline. It's the only thing that is keeping her from giving up on everything. No, Sakura has never thought of ending her life, but she has constantly thought of just leaving Konan behind and running from everything. This worn down, light brown leather bound journal of hers kept all her secrets within it. Beginning with that night the fire started. She began to write of how much she wanted Gaara and how when she finally began to trust again everything was yanked from under here. How she would no longer open up her heart to anyone other than Konan. How much she so desperately needed to hear someone tell her she was important, that she was loved. How she always wanted what she never had and never had what she needed so badly.

* * *

_With Gaara_

He didn't know why he was doing this with some random girl he didn't even know. Blame it on the hormones, I suppose, but it was mostly because he didn't think he had a chance with Sakura. She was one of the hottest girls in the school now according to the list that circulated around the school. She was third beneath Ino and Reina. But, to him she was number one. All he could think about while he was kissing Matsuri was how he wished it was Sakura. Abruptly, Matsuri pushed him off.

"Alright, what's your deal?" She huffed as she placed her hands on her hips and shifted her weight onto her right foot.

Gaara simply gave her a quizzical look.

"I can totally tell you are so not into this. So, who is she?" Matsuri sneered. Gaara was about to give her another look when he was cut off. "And don't give me that look, answer me!" She stomped her foot.

Gaara sighed. "I'm just not into you." Simple and to the point, completely cut throat. Gaara thought this would get her to drop the subject and run crying.

"Obviously. I mean who do you like. Is it that pink bimbo?" Matsuri smirked.

"Shut the fuck up. You don't even know her."

"So, it's true, huh? Well, obviously you don't know her either or else you wouldn't be here with me." Matsuri's sneer gradually turned into a sympathetic smile. Sure, she loved this boy, but he was seriously stupid. Especially when it came to women and she couldn't have that.

"Go. If you get bored of her, you know where to find me." She winked at him, and walked away leaving him to his own thoughts.

'Sigh. Sometimes I wonder if he will ever understand a woman's feelings.' As soon as she thought that, she saw a blurb of red hair and black clothing run right past her.

"Hey, jerk, you totally ruined my hair!"

Gaara ignored Matsuri's shrill voice as he kept running. All he could feel was the adrenaline pumping through his body, and all he could think about was how he should have just followed his instincts. As he was running he dialed Sakura's number, but all he got was a voicemail. He ran and ran until he reached her house. Suddenly, fear struck him, what if she was crying? What if Konan was home and knew she was crying? What if Konan knew it was his fault? What if… The next thing he knew he was on the ground, staring up into the sky. His vision began to fade and all he could hear was his name being yelled.

"Damn, now what am I gunna do with him?" Sakura asked no one in particular. Konan appeared from behind the door frame and slightly poked her head out.

"Do you really want an answer?" Konan wiggled her eyebrows at her and walked away laughing as Sakura's face puffed out with embarrassment.

"Ugh, seriously?!" She yelled into the small house towards her guardian, causing her to laugh even louder. "Good grief."

* * *

_With Shikamaru and Temari_

The two teens were sprawled along the plush grass field of the boring school simply gazing at the clouds.

"So, who do you wanna bet on?" Temari nudged her boyfriend to wake him up. 'You lazy ass.' Is what she wanted to add on the her question, but decided to drop it... for now.

"Well, it's obvious Sakura and Gaara have a thing for each other." He looked towards his girlfriend to only get a nod. "Then there's Inuzuka and that psycho blondie. Then you've got Naruto and Hinata, which is probably not gonna work out considering they are polar opposites."

"Yeah, but you and I are polar opposites and we are perfect." Temari smugly grinned at her boyfriend only to get a grunt in response. "Jeez, now you're too lazy to even agree with me. Lazy ass." She muttered the last part, but he heard.

"What was that?" He slyly smirked at her causing her to become nervous.

"Nothing." She quickly said. But, she soon found that Shikamaru wasn't as lazy as she thought as he hovered over her in a very presumptuous position. He barely grazed her lips, taunting her. Shikamaru quickly got up and walked away.

"Hey! What the heck? It was getting good!" She halfheartedly yelled at her boyfriend.

And as simple as it could be, he pivoted his body at an angle towards her, with his side facing her, and gently tilted his head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I don't want to do anything out on the dirt. Or are you into that?" He smirked and slowly shuffled away. Only to hear his girlfriend come after him yelling his name. 'Troublesome...' He looked back oct his girlfriend got closer. 'Well, she's worth it.' He held out his arm to her and she gladly accepted it with a gracious smile.


End file.
